Severe injury to body limbs, particularly injuries involving a fracture of the bone, are typically treated by immobilizing the injured limb in a rigid cast. Prior to about 1980, the vast majority of such rigid casts were made of plaster-of-paris. Since about 1980, synthetic casting materials, particularly those comprising a knitted fiberglass fabric impregnated with a water-activated polyurethane prepolymer resin system, have become quite popular. These polyurethane casting materials, like plaster-of-paris bandages, are dipped in water, then wrapped around the injured limb or body part and shaped while the material is soft and pliable. The resin cures into a rigid immobilizing cast within a few minutes after application to the body.
Polyurethane casts offer numerous advantages over plaster-of-paris, including a high strength-to-weight ratio, porosity, improved radiolucency and water resistance. Because of these advantages, they are generally preferred, even though they are significantly more expensive than plaster-of-paris.
Plaster-of-paris casts and known polyurethane casts, because of their rigidity, are not suitable for treating injuries where total immobilization is not necessary and/or desirable, as for example, in the case of strains, sprains, and some minor fractures.
These injuries are typically treated with a flexible-type support such as tape or an elastic bandage, e.g., an "Ace" bandage, which is not impregnated with a hardening agent. Such supports offer various degrees of immobilization, and the support they provide is not necessarily stable and constant over time.
It has been discovered that a need exists for a cured, custom-fitted resilient support device which offers the stability of a cured cast without the rigidity and degree of immobilization attendant with currently available casting materials.